Author Archives: smartfacilitator

Brain Connections I’m a fan of Steven Novella. He’s a Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine. He’s also a founder of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe. He’s also the co President of the New England Skeptics Society. He also frequently contributes to his Neurologica blog. I don’t know when he has timeContinue reading “Brain Connections”

Childhood trauma and Addiction In my blog post dated 8/27/15 I briefly mentioned a book about childhood trauma. Having been involved in recovery for about 25 years I’ve noticed that many people in recovery from addiction have histories of childhood trauma or growing up in a dysfunctional family. One time I mentioned in a meetingContinue reading “Childhood trauma and Addiction”

Exclusive screening of The Business of Recovery This is a documentary worth checking out. When it comes to shopping for rehabs “let the buyer beware.” Sponsored by: Practical Recovery Location: Triangle Cinemas, 1870 Harbor Blvd Costa Mesa, CA 92627 Date: Sunday, August 30th Time: 2:00 pm Tickets: $12 Contact: info@thebusinessofrecovery.com PLEASE NOTE: Advance Tickets only.Continue reading “Exclusive screening of The Business of Recovery”

Updated list for Non 12 Step Recovery Meetings in Orange County, California SMART Recovery Meetings: Sunday,  Women’s Meeting. 11 am to 12:30 pm. 1954 Placentia Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. Meeting is in the cafeteria, room 104. mollie.waring@solidlandings.com Sundays, 5:30 pm to 7 pm. Kaiser Irvine Medical Center, 6640 Alton Parkway, Irvine, CA 92618 ConferenceContinue reading “Updated list for Non 12 Step Recovery Meetings”

The Red Pill or the Blue Pill? On the SMART facilitator listserv there are many of the meeting facilitators who incorporate Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) into their meetings. ACT is a Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) that was developed in the 90’s. The ACT Matrix was developed over the past 10 years or so. TheContinue reading “The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?”

Facilitator – Host Training SMART meetings function with a facilitator. To learn more and possibly take the training check out this website. We need all the facilitators we can get. There’s a $75 dollar charge and the training you get is great. http://www.smartrecovery.org/facldtrain/index.htm There’s also a more basic course where you can become a Host.Continue reading “SMART Hosting”

A book challenging the common views of addiction was recently published called Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. It garnered a lot of attention with articles appearing in Huffington Post and the Guardian. In the book Hari mentions the studies of “Rat Park” and theContinue reading “Lets go to Rat Park”

A sober look at sober living homes. If contemplating going to one or referring someone to one be sure to take a good look at the home. Check out this article in The Fix. http://www.thefix.com/content/sober-living-wars Sober living homes coming under scrutiny in Costa Mesa. Often these facilities are not welcome in the neighborhood. It’s operatingContinue reading “More news and views”

In an effort to not leave out blogger followers stuff that I post on facebook I will do blog posts of some of the facebook entries. For instance I posted a note on an article on the Washington Post that highlighted that walking is good for you and may help your brain and stave offContinue reading “Miscellaneous facebook posts”

Just a quick note. Meeting tomorrow, June 14th, is cancelled. Meetings resume next Sunday.